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Abbreviations and definitions

(update 2024-03-03)

1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

D

DAODecentralized Autonomous Organization – an open-source blockchain protocol governed by a set of rules, created by its elected members, that automatically execute certain actions without the need for intermediaries. DAO is founded upon and governed by a set of computer-defined rules and blockchain-based smart contracts.

decentralization – it means that there is no central authority that has control over a system. Instead, the control of the system is distributed among the participants. Decentralized systems are designed to avoid the abuses of power by central authorities, but they come with additional costs to the participants, including the need for participants to take on some of the responsibilities themselves.

E

EMIemoney institution, Electronic Money Institution. E.g. Revolut, WorldRemit. Clients are protected by FCA.

ERC-20 – (Ethereum Request for Comments 20) token standard allows for fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. These tokens have a property that makes each token be exactly the same (in type and value) of another token.
https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/standards/tokens/erc-20/

F

FCAFinancial Conduct Authority – regulator for emoney institutions (EMI).

FinTechFinancial Technology – technology start-ups operating in the field of finance.

FSCEFinancial Services Competition Scheme – money protection (customers, consumers, companies) by banks in the UK. www.fscs.org.uk

M

MD5Message Digest 5 – popular cryptographic hash function developed by Ronald Rivest (the “R” in RSA) which is used to create a message digest for digital signatures.

N

NFTsnon-fungible tokens – tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. They let us tokenise things like art, collectibles, even real estate. They can only have one official owner at a time and they’re secured by the blockchain – no one can modify the record of ownership or copy/paste a new NFT into existence.

On the Ethereum blockchain, the NFTs describe the standards ERC-721 (standard for non-fungible tokens) and ERC-1155 (one standard for fungible and non-fungible tokens). The fungible tokens are described in the ERC-20 standard.

P

P2Ppeer-topeer (P2P) (person to person) – a model of communication in a computer network in which tasks are divided between persons (nodes) of equal rights. Members of the P2P network interact directly with each other without the mediation of a central server.

proof-of-authority (PoA) – is an algorithm used with blockchains that delivers comparatively fast transactions through a consensus mechanism based on identity as a stake. In PoA, rights to generate new blocks are awarded to nodes that have proven their authority to do so (validators).

proof-of-work (PoW) –

S

SHASecure Hash Algorithms – a family of popular cryptographic hash algorithms (SHA-0, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3) used to create digital signatures.

SSLSecure Sockets Layer – a cryptographic protocol now-deprecated, check TLSTransport Layer Security.

SSOSingle Sign-On – intermediary platform that operates as a unified Single Sign-On platform and giving access to all platforms, projects, stores, websites, etc. in a given ecosystem. E.g. 2access.

https://2access.io/

staking – participation in a proof-of-stake (PoS) system to put your tokens in to serve as a validator to the blockchain and receive rewards.

Crypto staking involves “locking up” a portion of your cryptocurrency for a period of time as a way of contribution to blockchain network. In exchange, stakers can earn rewards, typically in the form of additional coins or tokens (definition from the First Safir Global Summit in Dubai 2021).

T

TLSTransport Layer Security – a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The successor of the now-deprecated Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Tokenization – the process of converting something that has intrinsic value into a monetary system that can be used in a blockchain application.

TVLTotal Value Locked – represents the number of assets that are currently being staked in a specific protocol.

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